Downtown Digest, March 28, 2012

Downtown Alliance unveils promo It’s difficult to keep up with the 18 hotels and 1,100 retailers and restaurants situated below Chambers Street, according to the Downtown Alliance. In order to help, the Alliance has launched “Downtown Deals.”

The new digital promotion, located at www.downtownny.com, highlights special offers and discounts offered by Lower Manhattan merchants. Entrepreneurs, museums and other organizations south of Chambers Street may directly post their deals online.

“A global model for the 21st century central business district, Lower Manhattan truly has something for everyone, and the Downtown Alliance is excited to support our retailers and museums and showcase the fabulous deals our growing neighborhood has to offer,” said Downtown Alliance President Elizabeth Berger.

For a full list of the promotions, visit www.downtownny.com/downtown-deals.

Racy Tribeca show about porn industry It’s not quite a peep show, but it sure is prurient.

“Consent,” a new art show at the apexart gallery on Church Street, opened last week and will run through May 12. The show offers an inside look into pornography, featuring interviews of lewd screenwriters and performers.

“It struck me that porn is a difficult thing around which to structure an intelligent dialogue, especially from an art standpoint,” said Lynsey G., a porn reviewer and writer. “In this way, porn is utilitarian, and because we are taught not to speak openly of the utility to which we put it, pornography can hit our naughty bits without doing much else, aside from tugging on our heartstrings with the shame, anger, and revulsion that cultural stigmas bring to the party.”

An opening reception will take place Wednesday, March 21. For more information, visit www.apexart.org/exhibitions.

Silver, L.E.S. Ecology Center host e-waste recycling Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Lower East Side Ecology Center are joining forces to help Downtown residents get rid of their unused electronics in an environmentally friendly way.

Residents are invited to bring their old computers, monitors, keyboards, printers and other electronic equipment to Delancey Street, between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets on Sunday, April 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information on this free event call the speaker’s office at 212-312-1420.

9/11 Navy warship sets sail A new Navy warship set sail today on its premier mission, holding 7.5 tons of steel from the rubble of the Twin Towers, according to the Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center.

The ship and crew left from Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia en route to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Built and christened in Louisiana, the W.T.C. steel was melted and poured to form the ship’s bow on September 9, 2003. The U.S.S. New York was commissioned in Manhattan in November 2009, carrying a crew of more than 360 sailors under Commanding Officer William Harrmann.

“On this, the eve of the U.S.S. New York’s first deployment, I just wanted to wish the U.S.S. New York and all of its crew a safe journey and a speedy return home,” said Eleni Kousoulis, who lost her sister on 9/11. “What you on the U.S.S. New York and all of our other military do to keep the rest of us safe and protected, does not go unnoticed and is very much appreciated. Good luck and stay safe.”